Video from Saudi Arabia passed off as earthquake footage from Turkey
A video showing a building collapsing and turning into a cloud of dust is being shared on social media. Users said the incident occurred during an earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 10 Feb 2023 12:09 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A video showing a building collapsing and turning into a cloud of dust is being shared on social media. Users said the incident occurred during an earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Vivek Gupta, a journalist with News18, shared the video using the hashtags #TurkeyEarthquake #Turkey #earthquake. (Archive)
Click here to see the post.
News outlets such as CNBC Awaaz and News18 Odia shared the video claiming that it shows the visuals of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Fact Check
NewsMeter, in its investigation, found that the video is from Saudi Arabia.
On performing a reverse image search of the videoās keyframe, we found it uploaded on YouTube on 19 January, which is around two weeks before the earthquake hit Turkey-Syria. As per the caption, the location of the video is Old Makkah Road, Al-Klio 3, Jeddah Road.
A dashcam video uploaded on YouTube on 12 April 2022 shows several buildings razed on the left side of the road and also shows similar visuals as seen in the viral video.
Further, using Google Maps, we found the 2017 street view capture of buildings and shops that resemble the visuals seen in the dashcam footage.
Finally, we ran a keyword search and found reports from 2022 that said the Saudi Arabia government is razing off buildings in Jeddah to make way for tourism and wealth.
NewsMeter could not verify the date when the building seen in the viral video was demolished, but we found that the video has been on the internet since 2022. We also geolocated and found that the video is from Saudi Arabia. Hence, we conclude that the video does not show visuals of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
